Returned
by Thilliana
Summary: Noodle has returned from her trip to Hell. She's ready to go on, being a part of the Gorillaz again, but something's changed. First of all, she's not sure how she's feeling about 2D, seeing as they're both older. Second of all, she's got visions. Viciously horrid visions that she can't escape from. What will she do? Rated T for language
1. Chapter 1

**Just so you, my little minions, don't get confused over my weird way of thinking, the ages are as following: 2D is 34 ~ Murdoc is 46 ~ Noodle is 21 ~ Russell is 37 ~ Del is 39 (Yeah. Random, but you'll see why later on *grinning like a maniac***

_2D found himself standing in a cornfield. The sun was shining, there weren't a single cloud in the sky, and the only thing breaking the silence was the hoarse sound of a crow every once in a while. The wind was blowing vaguely, making the corn wave from side to side.  
"Toochiiiiiiiii" a voice called. 2D looked around to find none other than Noodle standing not more than 5 meters from him. She was smiling. It was a cute smile, a very cute smile indeed. She wore a white dress with puff sleeves and black/white-striped tights. She almost looked like a child. "Come on Toochi!" she said, waving him closer. That was when 2D realized that he was dreaming. First of all, Noodle would never wear a dress. Second of all, she would never wear a dress like THAT. But 2D still managed to order his feet to move towards Noodle who was still smiling. "Catch me if you can, Toochi!" she said, and then she ran. And he found himself running after her. She was laughing, just like a child would do.  
Suddenly, the sky blackened, and thunder began to roll. A single lightning stroke the sky and the wind got more and more powerful. Noodle kept running though. "Noodle! Stop, please!" 2D yelled, trying to keep up with her. But Noodle didn't stop, she only laughed again.  
Out of nowhere came a ledge. Noodle ran towards it, with no intentions of stopping. 2D screamed at her, wanting her to stop for a moment, but she didn't. She kept on running until she was about an inch from the edge. She stopped, looking at him, and smiled. "Toochi" she said, reaching out for him. "Take my hand, Toochi". She closed her eyes, and repeated those four words. It became a mantra for her, and 2D wanted to take her hand, to protect her from the storm, and save her from the ledge. But he couldn't move. His feet just didn't cooperate with the rest of his body. "TOOCHI!" Noodle's voice rose to a yell, and she looked at him again. 2D realized that she was crying. And she wasn't noticing when a dark something rose from the abyss. The thing didn't have a face. Only two red eyes and claws. It was a black mass, looked much like a shadow. "NOODLE! There's… There's something behind you! Run, c'mon!" 2D shouted, as he couldn't move himself. But Noodle didn't move and inch.  
The storm got more powerful as the shadow... Thing... WHATEVER reached for Noodle with its claws. It grabbed her, and dragged her towards the abyss with a satisfied growl. Noodle reached out for 2D once more, still crying. 2D tried to move, but whenever he tried, more parts of his body became immobile.  
Noodle was floating in midair, only her tip-toe still touching the ledge. "TOOCHI!" she screamed. "Toochi, I'm scared. I don't want to go with it, I DON'T WANT TO! TOOCHI!"_

_And then the thing dragged her down. _

2D sat up in bed, gasping for breath. He looked at the clock on his bedside table. 3:15. Jesus Christ, this was the third night in a row he'd woken up after a nightmare. He massaged his temples briefly, sighing and falling back against the mattress. "Bloody hell" he mumbled. He stood up and walked to the bathroom to have a glass of water. He went back to his room, closed the door and pulled the carpet op to his shoulders. He turned onto the one side, and looked at the bedside table once more. Next to the clock, there was a framed picture of him and Noodle, taken back when she'd just joined Gorillaz and couldn't say much more than 'Toochi', 'Noodle' and 'Fuck you' - the last thing was something she learned from Murdoc, surprisingly. On the picture were all four of them around a billiard table. Himself sitting at the edge of it, looking lost as always. Next to him was Russell, holding a cue straight up. In the far end of the billiard table stood Murdoc, leaning in across the table, holding a cue in his hands. In between that cue and himself sat Noodle, supporting the cue with one hand.  
He smiled at the picture, and, after several minutes of thinking back and smiling like an idiot, drifted away into sleep.

What 2D wasn't aware of was, that at this moment a very special person came walking down the street. And this person was heading for 212 Wobble Street, London.

A/N ~ Sorry if this wasn't that long. What do you guys think so far? PLEASE R&R!

Thilla out.


	2. Chapter 2

Resurfacing wasn't a thing Noodle had ever tried before. On the other hand, being attacked and in Hell wasn't something she'd tried before either. And not going back didn't bother her at all. She stood beneath the staircase to 212 Wobble Street, trying to collect some guts to enter the house.

_Come on you coward! Enter the damn house! You live there as much as anyone!_

_Doesn't a quick trip to Hell kinda change that?_

_Seriously? Like, really?_

_Am I having this conversation? Oh God. I'm losing it_

_Big time. _

_Shut up. _

_That's my girl._

After a quick conversation with her inner Noodle (like, really?) and making clear that she was a coward of epic proportions, she took the first step up the stairs. And then the next. And the next. Soon, she was standing just in front of the door. She pressed her ear against the door, but there was no sound on the other side. But, on the other hand, it couldn't be more than six in the morning. And knowing the guys well, they wouldn't be up for hours. Murdoc would probably sleep out a hangover, and Russell and 2D were just plain lazy.

She smiled over the memory of the boys, and stood up straight to look out on Wobble Street.  
It was a warm morning, seeing as this was England in September, and the leaves had a nice brown/red color on them. Most of the houses were still dark, while a few early workers were out jogging, walking their dogs or delivering mail.

And then there was _her._

A 21-year old Japanese girl who lived with 3 other guys in a house in the outskirts of London, whereas the one was a Satanist, the other permanently suffering from headache and the third just being… Well, a bloody giant. But it was _her _boys.

Idiotic, violent and sometimes really _really _annoying, but nevertheless _hers. _

She took a deep breath before opening the door to the house. _Why didn't the guys lock the door at night? Idiots _she thought, but at this time, it was rather lucky. A visit in Hell and you lose your house key. Just bad luck, don't you think? She praised the Lord that the door didn't make any noise when she closed it behind her, and went through the kitchen to the living room. She smiled as she saw that nothing had changed just a bit. The couch was still filled with just about everything _but _pillows and stuff, and was instead filled with clothing, plastic bags and notebooks. And if her eyes didn't mistake her, she spotted a pizza tray in there somewhere.  
The rest of the room looked just as trashy as before. Only this time, it wasn't her things that filled the most. She let her eyes glance over every single detail in the room, and stopped by the little shelf where a picture was placed. She walked over to it, and held it in her hand, smiling. It was a picture of her, sitting in the couch with her guitar and a notebook in her lap, trying to write a song. She remembered the day that Russell had taken that picture. She also remembered running after him through the whole house for making him delete it. And he didn't. _Bastard._

But what really surprised her was the little inscription on the frame itself. _"Noodle; a sister and daughter to us all". _She bit her lip and felt that tears were gathering in her eyes as she put it back into place. They'd created some sort of memorial spot for her, when they'd thought she was dead. She smiled and went through the living room to the rooms. She tip-toed through the hallway, careful not to wake anyone up in her quest to just reach her room and hide in there until breakfast. She stopped in front of a door right across where her own room was placed, and opened it silently.

She cursed vaguely when it made a shrieking noise the moment she pushed it open, just enough to stick her head into the room. She looked across the room to the bed, where a person was sleeping. She smirked as she heard him mumble something about a chicken roller skating and shook her head. _That 2D. He never grows up.  
_She tip-toed a few steps further into the room, just to get a closer look of his face. It looked just at it used to. His hair was still blue, and he still had some scratches and an uneven nose. _Just as before, _Noodle thought, mentally slapping herself to prevent her from running her fingers through that very blue hair. She smiled, and bent down so that she was in eye-to-eye level with the sleeping 2D. "I'm back" she whispered, knowing that he couldn't hear her. She then rose, tip-toed out of the room and closed the door behind her with a soft smile on her lips. She then, finally, slipped into her own room and buried her head in her pillows, drifting off to sleep not two seconds later.

"Tell me, you guys didn't hear sumfink this morning, did ya?" 2D asked when both Murdoc and Russell were alive and seated in front of the TV in the living room. "What's the matter, Faceache, getting noias all of a sudden?" Murdoc asked viciously, grinning at 2D's puzzled look. Russell shook his head and took a lout sip of the coffee, not bothering to remove his eyes from the TV. "D, I ain't got noias dude, I SLEEP at night" he said, shaking his head.  
2D sighed briefly, but then rested his head against the coffee table, trying to focus on the show on TV that didn't catch his interest. "I'm just gonna get sumfink to drink... Or sumfink" he murmured, rising from the table and walking into the kitchen.

The kitchen was probably the messiest kitchen in this part of London. The table was covered with plates, pizza trays and forks, knives and plates that REALLY needed to be washed. On the counter, next to the sink there was a little mountain of dishes that neither of the guys had bothered ever to take, and day by day it grew even bigger. Just typical guys. And he didn't want to get started on what was INSIDE the cabinets.

He walked over to the fridge, opened it, and grabbed a beer. He sighed, but ended up taking the beer after all.

"_Drinking in the morning are we?"_

2D nearly dropped the beer of surprise. He jumped, closed the fridge and turned around. Just there, on the opposite counter, sat Noodle, her legs swinging back and forth, while her eyes were fixed at 2D. She laughed briefly, jumping down the counter with the same fluid moves as she'd always possessed. She then walked over to him, winked and grabbed the beer out of his hand. "You know," she said, opening the cold drink "this stuff isn't good for you. You'll get like, liver-damages and shit". She then dragged the bottle to her mouth and took a large sip.

2D, who'd been standing there looking like an idiot, now finally remembered how to move and speak. He smiled widely, every inch of his body getting filled with some sort of warm fuzzy feeling.  
He couldn't believe it. After all this time, she was here. _With him_. He was over all happy, and if it wasn't because he would likely fall and break something, he would jump around the house like a maniac. He looked at Noodle, like really _looked _at her, and hugged her tightly. He could tell that she was surprised by the gesture, but nevertheless she placed her arms around his neck, placing her head on his shoulder. "Hi Toochi" she whispered into the fabric of 2D's shirt. He smiled, and hugged her even tighter. "Hi Noods"

It seemed like forever when Noodle finally let go of 2D, still smiling. "I can't believe you're here luv" 2D said, never minding the fact that Noodle had just abducted his beer. She shrugged, and for a moment 2D saw the old and younger Noodle. The Noodle that had a funny hat and always wearing to different colors of socks when gliding through the kitchen and couldn't speak much English. The girl, hell, the _woman _that stood before him now was different in so many ways. She'd grown at least 4 inches, and her hair was a bit longer. It still had that purple color, and her eyes were still green. Only they looked like they'd experienced so much more. That wasn't so weird after all. Besides the fact that she was now only a few centimeters lower than 2D, she was more… women-ish. She got shapes; she no longer looked like a stick. She didn't wear the hat anymore. She wore the same striped t-shirt and shorts as she'd been wearing the day of the accident, and she looked good. "Toochi? Something wrong?" she asked in perfect English. She still had a little Japanese accent, but she'd definitely learned something. 2D looked down at his friend and shook his head. "Nah. And c'mon luv, we gotta go see Doc and Russ and tell 'em ur back". He then walked into the living room and cleared his throat. Before he got a chance to say anything, Noodle stepped up beside him, crossing her arms across her chest. "What is it with you guys and always watching TV? Jesus Christ" she said, laughing at both Murdocs and Russell's expressions that got more and more surprised the more they turned around and looked at her. Murdoc was the first to speak. He stood up, looking rather stunned as he looked from Noodles toes to her head, as if to make sure that it really was her. "Bloody hell. Noodle?" he asked, smirking. She nodded and gave him a hug. "Hi Doc" she said, smiling widely at her 'uncle's' reaction. She looked over at Russell who just stood in front of the couch, looking like someone had just told him the solution to the world's economic problems or the cure for cancer. "Russell-sama? It's me. I'm home" she said, shrugging and smiling.  
Russell loosened up and embraced Noodle while laughing. He actually lifted her from the ground. "Whoa!" Noodle shrieked, but soon she laughed with him.

It felt right somehow, just to be back with them all. Yes, Murdoc was a violent mother_fucker, _but he acted like an uncle to her. Always full of advice, bad or good, and good enough on the bottom. Russell was still the brother he'd been since the FedEx crate. Big, warm and loving, like a teddy bear. And 2D… 2D was like a mixture of those two things. Caring and loving like a brother, good company and not so formal about her being the only girl in Gorillaz. Well, of course there was Paula, but she wasn't really spoken off anymore since Russell broke Murdocs nose.

_My boys,_ Noodle thought. _My own little family_


	3. Chapter 3

It didn't take very long for Noodle to settle in at 212 Wobble Street. Only a week after her unexpected arrival, she was goofing around and messing like everybody else. And boy, did she LOVE it. The guys had gotten used to her being around all of a sudden, and the house was filled with much more positive energy.

Whenever Murdoc was in his 'Massive-shitload-attack' mood, Noodle simply stepped up in front of him, slapped him and told him to get his crap together. Which he usually did. Russell still talked to his…Well, inner demon Del, and sometimes, Noodle and he got to chit-chat in the kitchen. Who knew that talking to a ghost would be satisfying? But what Noodle treasured the most, was 2D's presence. He'd sit with her and talk whenever Russell and Murdoc had withdrawn themselves to sleep, and they acted like they'd been brother and sister for ages.

To 2D it wasn't a surprise that Noodle hadn't changed. She wasn't like every other girl. She liked watching zombie films and often stayed up until dawn to watch some kind of marathon with 2D. She was also the only one who 2D really could relax with, without a fear of being kicked, hit or strangled. To tell the truth, Noodle was the least violent resident at Wobble Street, and 2D liked her for that. 2D could sit in his own world of weird dreams and ping pong, blabbering about the same thing for ages while drinking vodka clean from the bottle and smoking, and Noodle didn't mind at all. The two of them often sat on the rooftop, looking out over Wobble Street as they talked of this and that. And that was in fact what they were doing now.

Noodle sat on the roof, swinging her legs over the edge of it, whistling the melody of a Japanese folk song, being a bit in her own way when the door to the roof opened and 2D stepped out. "Hey luv. Wazup?" he asked, clearly NOT being sober. This wasn't that big of a surprise. Noodle stopped whistling, and looked at her older friend. "Nothin'. Just hanging out and stuff" she shrugged. "Yea. Stuff. Mind if I join? Doc's havin' one o' those moments again" 2D said, sitting next to Noodle with his legs hanging out in mid air. Noodle rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm gonna have to get that man to a psychologist or something one of these days" she murmured, causing 2D to laugh.

He then pulled out a bottle of vodka and a pack of cigarettes from inside his jacket. "Want some?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. She nodded, and grabbed a cigarette and the lighter out of his hand, exhaling a fine circle of smoke a few moments later. She'd been a smoker since she was 15 and the guys - mostly 2D though, because the man's brain didn't function - had begun not to be so careful about what she did and how she did it. Well, except for Russell who'd kill her for sure. That's why she only smoked on the rooftops. And only with 2D. He opened the bottle and took a drag of it, shivering afterwards when the pure vodka went down his throat. "Dis is some serious stuff n' all" he said, looking suspiciously at the bottle. Noodle laughed and took the bottle. "That's because it's 46% alcohol and, on top of that, Russian, Toochi" she said, reading the etiquette. After reading a lot of Russian that she didn't understand any of, she took a drag herself. "Ew. This really tastes bad. Where did you get it?" she asked, after spitting over the rooftop, possibly hitting someone in the face. 2D shrugged and took a drag of his cigarette. "Don' remember luv. Probs som' place sneaky" he said, looking lost.

Noodle shook her head and laid her head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh. She'd really missed him during those years after being shut down and then in Hell. Because, even though none of them actually dared to admit it, they meant the world to each other. Besides, they were kinda the body and soul of Gorillaz, him always being recognized by his dents, hair and way of talking, her being especially looked at because she was the youngest and a girl.

"Toochi?"

"Yeah?"

"I've missed you. Bunch"

There. She said it. Happy now? She bit her lip, not daring to look up at 2D, but just staying where she was. She then heard a soft laughter and felt an arm around her waist. "I've missed ya to, luv" he said, gently squeezing her.

They sat on the roof like that for a while, watched the sun go down and the moon rise, turning Wobble Street into a home for alcoholics and a lonesome cat lady or two. 2D looked down at Noodle who was fast asleep in his lap, and smiled. No matter how old she got, and no matter how mature she got, she would always be little Noods. Little innocent and sweet Noodle. Who could kick your arse if you pissed her of. He sat and listened to her breathing in a few minutes, before he carried her down from the roof.

When he got into the grand hallway, he realized that Russell would kill him if he saw him carrying Noodle around like that. He sneaked past the entrance to the living room where both Murdoc and Russell were seated, watching a show about people making a fool out of themselves, and praised the Gods that the floor didn't make any noises. "Oy D?"

_Shit._

2D, still carrying Noodle, cleared his throat and answered. "Yeah?" He was trying not so sound as scared as he was, and stuck his head into the living room. He looked at his giant friend with something he hoped was a regular 2D-smile. "'Ave you seen Noods? I can't find her, its kinda making me nervous. Ya feel?" Russell said, looking at 2D with a worried stare. _Quick, c'mon, make up a lie! _An inner voice told him, and he straightened his back. "Uhm, I think she went to bed some time ago. Where else would she go?" 2D answered, shrugging. Murdoc looked at 2D with a lifted eyebrow, and it struck him that maybe Murdoc _knew_. If he did, then he was in BIG trouble. But, to 2D's luck, he didn't say anything; he only grunted and then returned to his TV-show. "Ya right dude. Sorry" Russell said, also turning back to the TV.

2D then hurried to Noodle's room, not daring to breathe properly before he'd closed the door behind him. Holy SHIT that was close. He quickly removed some of the stuffed toys (typical Noodle) and the blanket before putting her down on the bed, drawing the blanket up to her shoulders. He then bent down and kissed her head while whispering "'night luv" in a low, hushed voice. He then tip-toed out of the room, and closing the door behind her, only to find that none other than Murdoc was standing on the other side of the door. "So, Faceache, what were you doing in there?" he asked, smiling viciously.

_He was dead. Like a fish. Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT_


End file.
